Sophisticated Boom Boom

Sophisticated Boom Boom

by JohnKelly (Author)

Synopsis

Set in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, in the 1970s, this is a touching yet hilarious account of the agonies and absurdities of growing up in a backwater of pebbledash and Space Invaders. Teenagers Declan Lydon and his trusted friend Spit Maguire stumble together through their adolescence.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 208
Edition: New edition
Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd
Published: 17 Apr 2003

ISBN 10: 0224071076
ISBN 13: 9780224071079

Media Reviews
I'm deeply suspicious of books where chapters open with song lyrics or quotes from characters other than those featured in the text. So when I perused through John Kelly's Sophisticated Boom Boom and noted Elvis Costello quoted here, Al Green quoted there and Brian Eno quoted somewhere else, I knew we were in for something either very good or downright trashy. Actually, Kelly's book is neither but alludes to both. Sophisticated Boom Boom is set in seventies Enniskillen, a rites-of-passage fictional biography of Declan Lydon who uses contemporary music of the time as his A-Z. It probably isn't the best guide to depend on, as we find when Declan's first imaginary experience of the Sex Pistols finds him kissing the floor with a split head and spew holding him fast to the deck. Kelly writes with a humorous style not dissimilar to Colin Bateman. To read Samuel Beckett described as a wiry hore with looks like the Hangin' f***** Rock. even when he was a chile he looked like a quarry is funny indeed, and more than a little accurate! Declan and his friend Spit are great muckers and this is their story of a few miserable years in Enniskillen, coloured with sparkling observations and wicked wit. Sophisticated Boom-Boom has its jarring moments - fictional punk bands' names that don't ring true, those quotes, the local history lessons, but for all that it's a well-travelled journey, made with critical references to Horslips, Thin Lizzy and Van the Man, that many will empathise with and remember it themselves. - Harry Doherty
Author Bio
John Kelly was born in 1965 in County Fermanagh. He works as a writer and broadcaster mainly for RTE and The Irish Times. He is the author of The Little Hammer, published by Cape in 2000. Married with one daughter, he lives in Dublin.